


Lingering Impressions

by RyuuShinobi



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Character Development, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 15:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2587247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuuShinobi/pseuds/RyuuShinobi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zer0 is stuck waiting with Krieg during a trivial delivery mission, but the psycho is more interesting than he originally thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lingering Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> A light drabble that got away from me for a bit. Not intended to be long, but rather an exploration of the relationship between Zer0 and Krieg (and also learning how to write for Krieg).

Waiting was boring. Always was, always will be. Sitting around, doing nothing, literally just waiting for something special to happen? Frustrating.

Now imagine waiting with someone who could barely talk to you. The assassin suppressed a groan, resorting to swinging his legs from where he was sitting on a pile of tires next to a small, abandoned shack.

Zer0 lifted his head from his hand to cast a glance at Krieg, who was kicking about a piece of paper, not too far away. He caught the art on the Wanted poster, noting it was for the psycho. He almost wanted to say he could pick it up, and properly dispose of it in the trash, but… If it gave the psycho something to do, then maybe it was for the best.

The assassin, on the other hand, was stuck still waiting. His head returned to his hands, and he closed his eyes. Less than an hour to go, before their employer would meet up with them, exchange the package they were supposed to deliver, and be on their way. Easy job, but not when your employer decided to change the time last minute, leaving you and your partner stuck in the rocky terrain of the Highlands until the redesignated time. Now it was simply annoying.

There was a clatter of metal falling on stone and Zer0 barely looked up to see Krieg bending over to pick up his fallen buzz axe, apparently bored with the wanted poster. As quickly as he had looked, the assassin looked away.

Minutes passed by in silence, which is quickly broken by the sudden noise of cardboard scraping against the ground, combined with the grunts of the psycho. Zer0 ignored it until there was a soft whump from beside him, and a bald, masked face slid into his vision. Startled, the assassin jerked his head up and away, turning to see Krieg sitting on his own makeshift pile of boxes (which all threatened to collapse under his weight at any moment).

“Krieg,” Zer0 said, sitting up a bit straighter. “Did you lose the trash / that was your wanted poster? / We’ll find another.”

Krieg tilted his head, then tossed his head back in a quick bout of laughter. He reached out and pointed with his buzz axe. “There!” he said, his voice loud and gravely, muffled by the mask. Where he pointed, was the wanted poster, but tacked back up on the wall, albeit much worse for wear, and almost torn apart. But at least you could read it.

“Hmm. What, you want to be wanted?” the assassin questioned, looking back at Krieg.

His eyebrows raised, and Krieg gave Zer0 a smirk beyond his mask. “Now everyone will see my face!” He nodded knowingly, obviously pleased, and wiggled in his seat, causing the stack of boxes to sink a little under the weight.

Zer0 slid down from the tire stack, and motioned to it with a gloved hand. “Here,” he said, stepping back to give the psycho room.

The assassin smiled under the faceplate when Krieg’s single eye lit up, and he jumped off of the boxes, only to grab one of the older, falling apart ones. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Krieg repeated as he climbed up the pile, box in hand, and arranged the sturdy cardboard like a makeshift throne before he was satisfied enough to plop his ass down onto it. “You are a good number!”

“I’m certainly glad / You think that because Zer0 / Is the best number.” He chuckled, the sound light and easy on the ears.

“Number,” Krieg said, keeping a steady eye on the assassin. “How much longer? Where are the explosives? I’m bored!” He added emphasis to the word by kicking his leg, causing him and the whole stack of tires to waver dangerously. He seemed to take excitement in it though, turning his attention away from Zer0 for the moment to vigorously shake himself on top of the pile. He delighted in the way it leaned left and right, but managed to right itself out before he could topple over. Then, he stopped, and looked back at the assassin, clearly still waiting for an answer. “Don’t keep me wait-ing!”

Zer0 held up a hand. “Hold your bullymongs / We still have thirty minutes / Make yourself cozy.”

The psycho’s eye seemed to tense, along with his broad, bulked-up shoulders, but after a moment, relaxed again. “Rrrrrggg… Fine! More waiting!” With that, he turned his attention to his buzz axe. He picked at rusty edges with broken fingernails, attempting to polish it, but gave up quickly. Instead, he ran his finger down one of the edges of the saw blade, squinting with his solitary eye at the thin line of the cut, and gave it an approving nod. He jammed his cut finger into his mouth then, sucking on the skin, and looked back towards Zer0.

Zer0’s head tilted in curiosity. Krieg was very different from other psychos that the assassin had seen, that much was true. And while Zer0 had assumed communication would be all but impossible, he was being proven wrong yet again.

“So…” he started, looking from the psycho, to the sky, to the road, to the psycho again. “What have you been up to? We haven’t talked much since defeating Jack.”

“Teeeeeaaaaaa…” Krieg growled, drawing up the single word longer than he should have, as well as putting an extra syllable into it.

Zer0’s faceplate lit up with a single question mark.

“Teeeaaa…” he said again. “With rabbit child!” Krieg lifted a hand to his head, as if trying to make a rabbit ear with his hand, but only managing to make himself look like a moose with one antler.

“Rabbit child?” Zer0 was hopelessly confused, then the words clicked. “Tea! With Tina?” The thirteen-year-old with the twin rabbit toys.

“Yes! Teenaaaa…” Pleased that Zer0 had figured it out, Krieg rocked again on the tires. “Sirrrrrr Psycho!” he thumped his chest with his free hand, and nearly fell backwards, if Zer0 hadn’t jumped forward to latch a firm hand on the psycho’s scarred arm.

Once Zer0 was confident Krieg wouldn’t fall over, he let go of the other vault hunter, and leaned back himself, propping up his back against a broken light post. “Sir Psycho indeed / Did Tina give you that name? / I admit, it fits.” Krieg laughed at that, a deep gurgling in this throat that startled Zer0 at first.

The psycho wasn’t as bad as he thought, that’s for sure. Zer0 couldn’t imagine why he kept his distance from the psycho before, though it could have something to do with the fact that there always other people around. Krieg wasn’t often near other either. He was there when the train crashed, and Maya recognized him as the psycho that saved her from a pack of rats. But apart from that, there was always someone else that was more interesting to the assassin.

Which Zer0 regretted thinking now. Krieg was a good ally and his melee skills were much better than Zer0’s. Not as graceful of course, but on more than one occasion did Krieg yell “DUCK” only to lob his buzz axe over the assassin’s head. He was definitely thankful after that first time with the sneaky goliath.

“You’re a good man, Krieg,” Zer0 said, crossing his arms and nodding in approval.

The psycho looked up from picking at his weapon again, and stared at Zer0. His eye searched over the faceless helmet, as if looking to make eye contact, but definitely coming up empty, instead opting to stare as close to where he thought the assassin’s eyes were.

As soon as Zer0 had gotten used to the psycho, he felt unnerved. The feeling between the two changed at those words, and while Krieg couldn’t see the assassin’s eyes, he was making contact between them. The psycho’s eye softened, looking almost weary. There was no sense of anger or madness behind it, instead looking the most… _human_ , than Zer0 had ever seen from him.

Zer0 was sure they could have gotten away with another minute or two of silence, the psycho somehow mellowed out by the assassin’s words, but the screeching of wheels pierced the emptiness, and at once, Krieg’s eye hardened, and he looked towards the source. The assassin let loose a small sigh, and followed his gaze.

Down the disused road, a dressed-up bright blue technical was screeching as it rounded a corner, tires spinning, and threatened to topple over before evening out and continuing down the road. The vehicle came to a loud, vibrating halt in front of the vault hunter pair. “Heyo!” said the driver, as she swung out of the driver’s seat, and climbed into the bed of the truck.

“I’ve got your delivery here! Thanks again for taking this through that Hyperion camp.” She smiled in earnest, hoisting out a large, rope-wrapped package. Though she had a good grip on it, Zer0 stepped forward, leaning down to help her carry it to Zer0’s own rusted black and red technical. Krieg trailed after behind them, his axe dragging in the dirt.

“Thanks, mate!” she said after securing the package in the back of the technical. She pulled out a small white cloth and wiped at her forehead. “Now, the sooner the better, but these are also fragile, so don’t get too rough with them in tow, got it?” She tucked away the cloth, and pulled out a wad of cash in return.

“Not a problem, miss. / It’ll be our pleasure to / Bring this package home.” The assassin took the money offered to him, thumbed through it to count, then split it evenly in half. “Krieg,” Zer0 said, looking to where the psycho was crouching in the back of the truck. He offered his share of the cash, which the psycho took quickly.

“And the rest will be given to you upon safe delivery of the goods. Just ask the man at the gate and he’ll sort it out.” With that, the woman gave Zer0 and Krieg a wave of her hand, and climbed back into her truck. She backed up, turned around, and was gone without another word.

Zer0 made a soft, contemplative noise, and turned his attention back towards Krieg. “Ready to go, Krieg? / My blade itches for combat. / Don’t keep it waiting.”

Krieg tore his eyes away from the bound package that he was keeping a close eye on. Literally. He was breathing all over it. “You itch?” he repeated, picking up his axe and raising it. “I have an itch too!” He swung the buzz axe through the air in emphasis of this point.

“Perfect,” the assassin responded, nimbly swinging up and into the driver’s seat. He threw the technical into drive and stepped down on the gas. As Zer0 made a beeline for the Hyperion complex that stood in their way, Krieg stood up from the truckbed, free hand braced on the truck, and buzz axe lifted high into the air, an obvious threatening gesture, as he cackled.

“My blood is itching…! Grrraaaaaa!” he snarled, laughing with each word. “Go go go, faster faster faster! Llllight the fuse, number!”

At his words, a red, open-mouthed text emote blinked in front of Zer0’s faceplate.


End file.
